Plenty of Yankees know it's not easy being traded at midseason

The Yankees' Carlos Beltran slides safely into home on a double by Stephen Drew during the seventh inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. Photo Credit: AP / Winslow Townson

BOSTON - Imagine if all of our jobs had trade deadlines right in the middle of the year.

One day you're at your cubicle and the manager asks to see you in his or her office. Next thing you know, you're on a plane to a far-off city. You start work the next day -- or maybe even later that day -- and you may or may not know anyone at the new place. And you are expected to perform at your best from Day One.

Major League Baseball players face this reality every year, with the anxiety peaking in late July. This year, the Yankees added three players at the July 31 non-waiver deadline: infielder Stephen Drew, infielder/outfielder Martin Prado and pitcher Esmil Rogers.

In fact, nearly half of the members of the Yankees' current roster -- 12 of 25 -- have changed teams during the season in their careers, some more than once.

This list includes a future Hall of Famer in Ichiro Suzuki, who was traded from the Mariners to the Yankees in 2011. It includes two players who someday could be Hall of Fame candidates in Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira, both of whom have been traded during two different seasons.

"Everything about it is tough," said Beltran, who was traded from Kansas City to Houston in June 2004 and from the Mets to the Giants in July 2011. "You come from an environment where you feel comfortable to a place where you've got to get to know people, the system. You've got family. Packing. Everything. It's tough. It takes time to get used to it."

Drew and Prado had the double whammy of going to a new team and having to move to new positions.

Drew, a shortstop, was acquired on Thursday to play second base, a position he hasn't manned since high school. But because the Yankees were playing Boston the day after the trade, Drew merely had to switch clubhouses from home to visitor at Fenway Park.

Prado arrived in Boston from Phoenix just hours before Friday night's game. He was told to get ready to become a rightfielder after having played two innings at the position in his big-league career.

"It's been a while since I've played rightfield," he said, "but I told [Joe Girardi] that I'm open for it to help my teammates, help my team win games."

That's another common thread among the recently acquired: checking your ego at the door. Whatever your age, you're the new kid in town. "There definitely is -- when you walk into a new room and see a lot of new faces -- a first-day-of-school thing," Capuano said.

Capuano, who came to the Yankees from the Colorado organization after opening the season with Boston, started a game the day after joining the Yankees and pitched well. Headley got the winning hit in extra innings after arriving in the Bronx during the game on July 22.

On Sunday night, Drew drove in four runs and Rogers earned the win with three scoreless innings of relief in the Yankees' 8-7 victory over the Red Sox.

Said Teixeira: "That's the easy side, actually. Baseball is baseball. It doesn't matter what team you're on, who your teammates are. It's the exact same game."

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